Dave Giles Misses Flight in Eu Entry/exit System Delays
Travellers hit by eu entry/exit system delays described queues, failed kiosks and missed flights as the new rules came into effect in Schengen countries on Friday. Some airports said waits reached up to three hours, while hundreds of travellers sent in accounts of repeated registration problems and border checks that slowed journeys across Europe.
Dave Giles at Copenhagen Airport
Dave Giles, an IT manager from Raunds in Northamptonshire, missed his flight home on 12 April after long queues at passport control in Copenhagen. He said, “When they called the gate and we got down towards passport control, there was a queue of probably 80 to 100 people in front of us and only three kiosks checking passports,” and added, “Before long, one of those closed.”
Giles said a supervisor was trying to keep the gate open while passengers waited, and the disruption left him with receipts for about £1,800 and a total cost that he put at over £2,000. The missing flight was not the only problem travellers described: some said fingerprints were not accepted, others said they had to repeat registration on each leg of a journey, and families travelling with children reported extra delays.
Pisa Airport and Georgia
Georgia, who was five months pregnant, said she faced a four-hour delay on arrival at Pisa airport on 10 April. She said, “There were no staff in sight to advise on waiting times,” and added, “I sat on the floor and had to tell the people around me I was pregnant and to give me some space because I was almost fainting.” She said people at the back of the queue were stuck in a windowless corridor for hours, and water was handed out only when travellers reached the front.
Georgia said the experience changed the way she planned future travel. “I was meant to fly to Paris this weekend with my husband, but I’ve cancelled the trip just because I couldn’t face it again,” she said. She also said, “I have a trip to Greece coming up, but I saw that they’re now not following the new system, which was amazing news.”
Schengen rollout pressure
The new EU entry-exit system had been gradually introduced in Europe since October 2025 before coming into effect in the Schengen countries on Friday. The Schengen area includes 25 of the EU's 27 states plus Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, and the early rollout has already produced the kind of border bottlenecks that passengers now have to judge against when booking onward flights.
Stuart MacLennan, travelling with children, was among the passengers who encountered problems during the rollout, and other travellers reported repeated registration requirements even after they had already completed the process once. Hundreds of responses to a callout from travellers across Europe show the same pattern at different airports: missed connections, long waits and a system that still appears uneven at the point of use.
For passengers flying through Schengen airports, the immediate next issue is whether airports can reduce the queues fast enough to stop more missed departures and more families deciding not to travel under the new system.
